Two Wharton students devised an app to make networking easier

Two Wharton sophomores have found a way to share contacts at various settings, from parties to recruiting events.

Vite! is a mobile networking application created by Wharton sophomores Cole Pergament and Seth Sholk that gives students a way to share all forms of formal and informal contact information quickly.

By signing in with Facebook or Twitter, Vite! allows users to create a profile linking contact forms such as email, phone number and social media accounts. Users can select which accounts they want to share and produce a personalized QR code that instantly sends account information between phones.

“We’re trying to change behavior,” Pergament said. “We are making a better way for people to connect on their mobile devices, through less formal modes of communication.”

The concept for Vite! was devised by Pergament in the summer of 2016. After attending several networking events, Pergament realized there were no networking applications for the iPhone or Android that allowed users to “share some accounts with one person and different accounts with another.”

In the fall of 2016, Pergament and Sholk started to work on a pitch for the app and won the Penn Startup Pitch Competition held by TAMID at Penn, a group under Penn Hillel that gives students hands-on opportunities to learn about entrepreneurship and business through exposure to the Israeli economy.

“It was applicable to college students and a very tangible idea,” said Wharton junior Sophie Rose, president of TAMID at Penn. “Here at Penn, we especially wanted something practical and relatable to students.”